Former Premier League footballer Dean Windass has backed Leeds to sign Harry Winks from Tottenham Hotspur.
Claiming Winks would be a natural fit for Marcelo Bielsa’s style, Windass offered a glowing endorsement of the long-term project Bielsa is building at Elland Road.
Speaking to Football FanCast, Windass claimed: “I think if Bielsa does stay and brings in his own players, they will be a top-four or top-six side, and Harry Winks could get into any of them teams. He’s Bielsa’s sort of player.
“Is he going to play to two sitting midfield players? But Winks can get forward as well. [Kalvin] Phillips was once a right-back and now he’s turned him into an England international sitting midfield player. The manager is obviously good on the training ground at developing players.
“I don’t think Leeds United players would say no.”
Bielsa is famed for his 4-1-4-1 fluid system defined by free-flowing counter-attacks with a high intensity and formidable wing play.
Winks, who is valued at £19.8 million (as per Transfermarkt), would need to be a robust, hard-working workhorse in midfield to challenge the likes of Mateusz Klich and Kalvin Phillips for places – so could he make the grade?
The underlying stats would suggest that.
In relation to similar deeper-lying midfielders across Europe’s top league, Winks averages over 6 progressive passes per 90 and is in the upper 20% for his pass completion rate on average (88.2% – as per FBRef).
He is also in the top 10% of midfielders for interceptions – though his comparative lack of tackling success means he still has some room to improve.
Having failed to break into Spurs XIs regularly this season – with Winks also having been linked with Valencia and Atletico Madrid – Winks could be an available option in the summer that suits Leeds’ style down to the ground.
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